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Metamorphosis (episode)
On an isolated asteroid, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years. Summary Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are ferrying Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford back to the ''USS Enterprise''. The commissioner, who has been called upon to prevent a war on Epsilon Canaris III, has developed Sakuro's Disease, a rare life-threatening illness, and must be removed to a medical facility for treatment. The commissioner is bitter at what she regards as incompetence in the Federation Medical Department, which she believes should have properly prepared her. En route (shortly past point 3, on course 201 Mark 15), the shuttlecraft Galileo encounters a phenomenon that Spock describes as "vaguely like a cloud of ionized hydrogen, but with strong electrical impulses". Moving at warp speed, it envelops the shuttlecraft and disables its systems. The craft is pulled to course 98 Mark 12, towards the Gamma Canaris region. There, it is soft-landed on an iron-nickle planetoid with a standard oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and standard gravity. A place entirely suited for human life. Examining the shuttlecraft, Spock discovers something that should be impossible: nothing is damaged, but nothing works. McCoy notes that the gaseous cloud they encountered in space seems to be here, on the surface of the planet. Then a loud "hallooooooo" breaks the stillness. Someone else is here - a young man who quickly joins the stranded group. He introduces himself as Cochrane. He tells the officers that a damping field prevents equipment here from working. But he denies knowledge of the force that brought the shuttlecraft here. Kirk finds this man familiar, somehow. Cochrane shows his visitors to his home, decorated with instruments Kirk regards as antiques. Ominously, Commissioner Hedford has developed a fever, the first symptom of her illness. Finally, Kirk presses Cochrane, and learns about the Companion. This is what he calls the strange creature that brought the Galileo here. Cochrane was old, and knew he wanted to die in space. So he took a spacecraft and left his home on Alpha Centauri for parts unknown. The Companion found him, reversed his aging process, and has maintained him here, ever since. Cochrane is responsible for the abduction of Kirk and his party; he communicated his loneliness in the hope that the Companion would free him, but instead it elected to bring him friends. Given these clues, Kirk also realizes why Cochrane seems so familiar: he is Zefram Cochrane, discoverer of the space warp. Spock, meanwhile, is attempting to repair the Galileo when the Companion appears there. Curious, he touches it, and receives an electrical shock that knocks him cold. The circuitry of the ship bursts into flame; the Companion is taking no chances. Cochrane agrees to summon the Companion, to see if it can help the commissioner, but learns that it cannot. McCoy discovers Spock; the encounter has left Spock with a new insight: the Companion is largely made of electricity. Spock constructs a mechanism to scramble electrical impulses; with this, Kirk intends to disable or destroy the creature, so that the humans may depart. Cochrane now has reservations; he doesn't want the creature killed. Kirk overwhelms him with the force of his personality. Unhappy at being forced into the role of a Judas goat, Cochrane nevertheless agrees to summon the creature. Spock throws the switch, and discovers that his mechanism is sufficient only to irritate the creature. It attacks Kirk and Spock, and despite McCoy's pleas, nearly kills them -- before Cochrane calls it off. Nearby, the Enterprise searches for the now long overdue shuttlecraft. Finally, at 210 Mark 40, the sensors detected a strong antimatter particle concentration. Lacking evidence that the shuttlecraft has been destroyed Scotty elects to follow this tenuous course. On Gamma Canaris, Spock has completed modifying the universal translator so Kirk can communicate with the Companion. Among the first things they discover is that the Companion is female, casting its -- her -- relationship with Cochrane in an entirely new light. Kirk implores the Companion to permit their departure, but she is adamant; to her, the safety and health of Cochrane is the only important goal. And to ensure that, she intends to keep the shuttlecraft crew here, forever. Cochrane is dismayed to discover the apparent sexual dynamic between himself and the Companion. He finds it repulsive. Kirk, Spock and McCoy do not understand his parochial attitude. For her part, the Commissioner is baffled by someone who, offered love, rejects it. The great regret of her life, as it draws near its end, is that she has never been loved. The Enterprise continues its search. It has discovered an asteroid field containing 7,000 bodies in sizes ranging from A to M. Thirty percent of them have atmospheres in types ranging from H to M. The search will be a long one, but Scotty remains convinces by the lack of evidence that the shuttlecraft landed safely somewhere, and he is prepared to search every asteroid if necessary. Kirk tries new tactics. First, he tries to convince the Companion that without challenges to overcome, the humans will weaken and die. When that fails, he tries to convince the Companion that there can never be real love, because it and Cochrane are too different. The Companion considers this, and then disappears. Kirk's hope is that the Companion will release Cochrane and his party -- love expressing itself as sacrifice -- but this is not its choice. Instead, moments later, an apparently healthy Nancy Hedford appears in the door of Cochrane's small home. The Companion has joined with her, sacrificing its immortality and its powers to become human, and experience life with Zefram Cochrane as a human woman would. Cochrane is reluctant, but becomes enthusiastic, promising to show her the galaxy. Sadly, she tells him that she cannot leave; her life emanates from this small planetoid. Just as he must eat, so she must remain here or perish. Cochrane cannot bring himself to leave her, and elects to remain behind. He asks Kirk to keep his existence a secret, a request Kirk grants. :At first, the Companion says it cannot help Nancy Hedford. Later, it is able to cure her as it merges with her. It may be that the merging process somehow routed the disease, or it may be that, before deciding to merge, the Companion was content to allow its only competition for Cochrane -- the only woman aboard the Galileo -- to die. Background Information *Bantam Books published a series of novelizations called "foto-novels," which took photographic stills from actual episodes and arranged word balloons and text over them, to create a comic book formatted story. The fifth installment was an adaptation of this episode. * According to Elinor Donahue in the forward to that Fotonovel, a whole landing sequence with the shuttlecraft was filmed and subsequently cut from the show. She also stated that she wore her scarf around her neck in the latter half of the episode because the neckline on her costume started "getting the dropsies." * In a wonderful bit of symbolism not often noticed, the colored patterns in the scarf worn by the Commissioner are identical to the patterns in the energy field of the Companion. This is shown nicely as she looks at Cochrane through the scarf near the end of the episode. * The shuttlecraft mock-up is not the same as the set used for the interiors of the Galileo. Notice how Kirk and company are all crouching as they emerge from the ship. The shuttlecraft interior set had a lot more head room. * The scenes of Cochrane communicating with the Companion were all shot at one time. The set was then completely re-done with his house added for all of the sequences with Kirk and company. The inconsistencies between the two versions of the same set can be seen in alien trees that are near Cochrane in one view and absent in the next. * To give an illusion of open space to a confined stage set, wide angle lenses were used. Watch how quickly Glenn Corbett approaches from what looks like hundreds of yards away when he first runs toward the shuttle! Strategically placed rocks also allowed the camera to be very far away without seeing the edges of the set. * An effect rarely used (Obsession being another case) is seen in Metamorphosis. Slowly moving "clouds" were blown in from hidden vents. They added a touch of reality to the usually static planet set. Ralph Senensky-directed episodes often showed extra touches like this. * Although Cochrane is from Alpha Centauri, he must have been a native of Earth originally-- when commenting about his home, he says, "It's not Earth, of course." Spock also refers to him as being an irrational human being at the conclusion of the episode. Despite this, it is difficult to reconcile the Cochrane in this episode with the one portrayed in the film "First Contact." * Perhaps no episode of the series demonstrates the concept of "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" more fully than Metamorphosis. Cochrane runs a gamit of emotions from defending the Companion to resenting the fact that it "used" him, to finally accepting its love fully. As McCoy says, "There's nothing disgusting about it. It's just another life form...you get used to those things!" Acceptance of alien life is a common theme in many of Gene L. Coon's scripts. * Elizabeth Rodgers, uncredited for some reason for her nice voice work as the Companion, returned to the series two times as communications officer Lt. Palmer. * A view of the starship from dead center in front of the saucer section is used only in this episode. * The Enterprise is not shown until twenty-six minutes into the episode. * All the footage of the shuttlecraft in outer space was reused from The Galileo Seven, some with the Companion animation added in post-production. *Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) does not appear in this episode. Memorable Quotes * "You saved my life....you took care of me....you loved me....I never understood. I do now." -Zefram Cochrane to the Companion * "Maybe you're a soldier so often, that you've forgotten you're also trained to be a diplomat. Why not try a carrot instead of a stick?" - Leonard McCoy * "It's a big galaxy, Mr. Scott!" - Lt. Uhura Links and References Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura Guest Stars *Glenn Corbett as Zefram Cochrane *Elinor Donahue as Nancy Hedford *Elizabeth Rogers as The Companion (voice) (uncredited) *Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) *William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) References Alpha Centauri; argon; class M; electronic scrambler; Epsilon Canaris; Epsilon Canaris III, Zefram Cochrane; Galileo; Gamma Canaris; Gamma Canaris IV; hydrogen; iron; krypton; nickel; nitrogen; neon; oxygen; universal translator; warp drive. Timeline *2030 *2119 *2267 DVD Media Information * Star Trek: The Original Series, Volume 16 (original two episode single-disc release) * Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete Second Season Category:TOS episodes de:Metamorphose nl:Metamorphosis